Originally Posted by
gringomojado
If shaving a rider's legs gives an X gain in speed, will shaving only 1 leg result in X/2 (Xx0.5) speed advantage?
For this, let us discount helmets and kickstands from the equation
PS we are not riding shirtless, so pit-shaves don't count
gm
Myth (reduction in air drag). Shaving legs originally was to make bandaging and removal from road rash (scrapes from crashes) easier.
Less hair is smoother. Doesn't necessarily mean less total drag. Many things in aerodynamics have designed-in "roughness", such as the dimples on golf balls, vortex generators, et al; These are "energy adders" designed to delay flow separation, causing the airflow to cling to the back rounded surface better, reducing the size of the wake vortex zone (low pressure), and thus reducing overall drag. Thus, leg hair may hurt, or it may help.